Louis van Gaal claimed Manchester United’s draw with Leicester was one of their best performances of the season – but admitted it could cost them a place in next season’s Champions League.

After watching Wes Morgan’s header cancel out Anthony Martial’s opener, the Dutchman said he was ‘pleased’ with the display.

But having said in the build-up that United needed to win each of their last four games, he accepted it will now be ‘difficult’ to finish in the top four this season.

Many United fans are likely to dispute the 64-year-old’s claim that the performance was one of the highlights of the season. But after United had 21 shots and six on target, Van Gaal insisted it was only the finishing that was missing.

He said: “I have said to my players that I have seen one of the best matches of the season of my line-up, but it was not enough.

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“You have to score and you are so attacking and so creating chances in the first half, in the second half, and you concede again a set-play goal, that is a pity, I think.

“The first goal is a fantastic goal but it was 1-1 and I have said you have to win every game that we have to play so now already we are not closing the gap. You can do it but it shall be very difficult.”

Kasper Schmeichel made a crucial save from Jesse Lingard with United leading 1-0 while United might have had a penalty in the second-half when Danny Drinkwater pulled back Memphis Depay to earn his second yellow card. Referee Michael Oliver decided the offence had started outside the penalty area.

Van Gaal, however, was convinced his team should have had a penalty when Robert Huth appeared to pull Marouane Fellaini’s hair, before the Belgian was caught by the television cameras retaliating by elbowing the German defender in the throat.

It could earn Fellaini a three-game ban if he’s charged by the FA but Van Gaal insisted afterwards Huth should also be punished.

He said: “It is a penalty for us. When you grab somebody in his hair and you are tying it backwards then it is a penalty.

“I expect first that Huth shall be getting a lot because I don’t think that is normal and what he is doing, Fellaini is reacting like a human being because when I grab you with your hair and pull it backwards, you shall do also something to me, I believe.

“We need the video referee and even when we see on video Memphis with Drinkwater, Drinkwater make the foul but to see if it is in or out is very difficult so that is what I have already said for more than 20 or 30 years I am in this profession and we need the video because the referee cannot do it by themselves and I think he is one of the best referees in England. It is difficult.”